The Blackhawks dropped their second preseason contest to the St. Louis Blues 6-3 on Friday at the United Center.
Here are 10 observations from the loss:
1. The Blackhawks had a lot of guys play their first preseason game while St. Louis was on their fourth, and it showed. It took a while for the Blackhawks to get their legs moving while the Blues came out flying, outshooting the home team 40-27.
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2. Alex DeBrincat finished the 2020-21 season on a seven-game goal streak, and he picked up where he left off by potting the Blackhawks' first goal and adding a primary assist in the second period. He also logged 18:19 of ice time, which ranked first among team forwards.
3. Caleb Jones has had a strong camp so far and he got rewarded in his second preseason game when he scored Chicago's second goal. He showed great awareness by jumping into the play and burying a DeBrincat pass backdoor to cut the Blackhawks' deficit to 3-2.
4. There are many different ways to make an impact if you're a player trying to get noticed, and Reese Johnson and Dmitri Osipov did that by showing their physicality throughout this game. They each dropped the gloves in the first period and combined for six hits (three each).
5. Marc-Andre Fleury played the first half of the game and stopped 15 of 17 shots for a save percentage of .882. Collin Delia subbed in for the second half and turned aside 19 of 22 shots for a save percentage of .864.
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6. Seth Jones led all skaters with 25:09. He logged 3:55 on the power play, 2:17 on the penalty kill and 18:57 at even strength. If you had any doubt how much the Blackhawks plan to lean on him during the regular season, here's your answer.
7. Jonathan Toews has been dominant at the faceoff circle through two preseason games. He won 15 of 21 draws on Wednesday and 13 of 18 on Friday. That's 28 wins on 39 attempts for a win percentage of 71.8. The Blackhawks sorely missed his presence in that department last season.
8. The Blackhawks have emphasized movement on the power play during training camp and we're seeing it translate to the games early on. They went 1-for-3 on the power play on Friday and generated 10 shot attempts and three scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
9. The Blackhawks held their breath towards the beginning stages of the first period when Kane left the ice after just one shift. He returned shortly after. Head coach Jeremy Colliton said Kane suffered a cut on his hand from a skate, which was the reason for his absence: "Dodged a bullet there."
10. Nolan Allan, who was taken No. 32 overall by the Blackhawks in the 2021 NHL Draft, made his preseason debut and looked fine on a pairing with Ian Mitchell. He's a defensive defenseman who prides himself on shutting down the opponents' top guys. He was a victim of the NHL's cross-checking penalty crackdown but was on the ice for eight shot attempts for and five against during 5-on-5 play.
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